Motor vehicle registration plate



Dec. 15,1925. 1,566,035

T. J. MOONEY MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION PLATE Filed Feb. 5, 1924 WITNE$5E$ INVENTOR Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

UNITE D S TA T ES TEN T OF F l C E THOMAS J. MOONEY, OF NEW YORK. N. Y., ASSIGNOR T O WALTER P.CHRYSLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION PLATE.

Application filed February 5,1924.

T0411! "(v/1.021211? wuay co-ncewn Be it known that I, THOMAS J. MooNEr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident otthe borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor Vehicle Registration Plates, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates in general to registration plates as used under State laws on motor vehicles, having characters to indicate the registration number or the like. In most States, the total number of motor vehicles registered each year has become so large, that difliculty is often experienced in quickly reading the registration number exhibited on the plate.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a system of arrangement of the characters on the registration plate to improve legibility. The principle involved is applicable equally to numbers, letters or other characters which together make up the oflicial registration designation of the par ticular vehicle and it comprises the differentiation between the several characters by which component groups of the entire designation become separately readable at a glance, whereby either the entire designation or a component part thereof may be more readily legible.

A characteristic feature of my invention is the avoidance of What may be termed the persistence of line, that is to say, the avoidance of having the successive characters registered in precise alignment, top and bottom, as such registration tends to convey the general view of the entire group and makes more diiiicult the separate perception of the component characters necessary to correctly read the designation. Many embodiments of this principle may readily be devised in practical form and I have selected two exan'iples to show by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing. In said drawing:

Figure 1 represents a face view of a registration plate in which avoidance of persistr-nce of line at the top of successive figures is accomplished by variation in height of successive characters, and

Figure 2 represents a face view of a registration plate in which avoidance of persistence of line is accomplished by staggering successive characters of equal height.

a line.

Serial No. 690,780.

The effect is further enhanced in Figure 2 by alternating solid with skeleton-outline characters.

Referring to Figure 1., the plate 1.0 has the registration number 234561, shown as printed with alternate letters in different height, with their bases aligned to stagger the tops of the characters, this having the elfect of making the numerals 2, 4; and 6 prominently discernible as a group designated 11, and also enabling the characters 3, 5 and 1 to be separately legible as a group 12.

In Figure 2, the characters are shown of the same height but staggered both top and bottom, to serve the same purpose as in Figure 1. The effect is here exaggerated by the characters 2, 4: and 6, constituting group 13, being solid black, with the characters 3, 5 and 1, constituting group 14, in skeleton out- This same effect may alsobe obtained by the use of different colors in the two groups of characters. In any case, whether in a form such as shown in Figure 1, or in an embodiment such as shown in Figure 2, the uniform rectangle formed by having all the successive characters aligned top and bottom is destroyed and, consequently, each character is individually more legible.

It is obvious that letters, as well as numbers, may be employed in any desired combination within the principles illustrated and without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Each additional number, which by reason of its increased legibility, becomes readily discernible in a registration plate, contributes to the task of identification of the ve hicle and by separating the components of one group, as for example 2, 4 and 6, by the intervening components of the other group 3, 5 and 1, each character is made more prominent. The same result would not be attained to anything like the same extent by having the characters, for example 2, 4 and 6, follow each other without any characters of the other group intervening. I, there fore, consider the feature of separating the characters of one set of similarly arranged or sized components by intervening characters of a differently arranged or sized set of characters a special feature in addition to the broad principle of the invention.

It is also to be observed that the employment of a distinct border, as indicated by the heavy black margin 011 the plate, further aids in legibility. The upper and lower marginal lines from which diiferent characters or groups of characters (two or more) are set on at difierent distances, constitutes an aid in separately discerning one character or group of characters from another character or group of characters at a different distance from such upper or lower border line.

I claim:

1. A registration plate comprising a des gnation, the component elements of which are disaligned.

2. A registration plate comprising a des ignation, the components of which are alternately aligned.

3. A registration plate, the components of which are displayed in groups, the characters in one group being differently aligned from the characters in another group.

4. A registration plate, the designation of which comprises two groups of component characters, the characters 01 one group alternating with those of the other and difier- (-ntly aligned from those of the other.

5. A registration plate comprising upper and lower border marks and a designation, dillerent components of such designation being differently aligned with respect to at least one of said border marks to increase legibility.

THOMAS J. MOONEY. 

